Curling Pick'em

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Nina and Team USA start out Worlds 1 and 1. The win is a quality win against Sweden. The loss came in an extra end against Scottish Eve. Normally and extra end loss to Eve would be nothing to hang your head about; but Eve got us by stealing in the 10th and stealing in the extra. That ain't cool; but at least the team rebounded with a promising win.

Face Shuster and Team USA men went over to the motherland to prep for Worlds. I think they did the same spiel last year on their way to bronze; but that Worlds was in Europe. I'm not sure this is the best timezone-jumping path the medal stand this year; but maybe the team loves Scotland. They went a mediocre 3 and 3 in a field that isn't all that great; but that isn't important. Their minds are on Worlds...which is exactly where their minds should be.

I wish the highlights would show more of the buildup. Roth was lying SIX before the hammer in one end. Sweden managed to cut it to one. But the highlights did show a couple of good shots from Roth, and she held her nerve perfectly on an open takeout to win.

US Women blew it against Canada. Canada gave them several chances that the US did not capitalize on. Trying a tricky thin double for 2, when you're up 1 with hammer, instead of getting your guaranteed single. Then it ticks the guard and give up a steal of 2; not good strategy...

Eh. I think a worlds team will always play that double, they just missed it. It wasn't THAT tricky.

The ninth was just a disaster, like the broadcast commentator said it wasn't even a "difficult three" and really he was talking about vices ricks onwards.

After this the playoffs are likely out of reach, would probably need to run the table to make it, but qualifying for the Olympics is still at stake and at potential risk here. Czech doing well is not in our favor. Need Korea to keep laying losses on folks.

The double for the deuce was there and wasn't even that hard. She just threw it bad and USA was "on the wrong side of the foot".

The 9th was a disaster. USA had two beautiful center guards and Canada was only biting top four behind them with their 2nd played wide to the back eight. With 6 stones left, USA never once tried to bury a draw opting for play on the wing. No chance for a steal, no shrinking of the scoring area, hello three.

Oh well, at least it was a close game and kept me going after midnight.

Through 7 games they are in the mix at 4-3, tied for third place...so very much in the running.

Yeah, they need to go 3-1 or 4-0 the rest of the way to be pretty sure they'll get there, but let's take a look at who they've got to play against:

Germany 3-4 so far...should be a good game, but within reach easily
Russia 4-3 so far...this one is critical, as the win would not only help their record, but hurt the Russian's record
Switzerland 4-3 so far...see above, substituting "Switzerland" for "Russia"
Korea 3-4 so far...should be a winnable game

So...they are very alive...with the chance to hang losses on two of the teams likely to be competing for the 3/4 slots...

So the Germany loss could be quite costly. But if the USA can win its next two and finish in the top six, they'll pass Japan, and there wouldn't be any way Italy or the Czech Republic could pass them, so they'll be safe.

U.S. Curling sure has gone downhill in the past 8 or so years. Wonder what the reason is??? ..... Might be because that don't send their national champion????
I may be wrong , but Roth seems like the spoiled rich kid.

I like the us women's chances at winning out tomorrow. They have beaten paetz twice this season and if my memory serves me well they have a good record against Kim. So 6-5 is very possible and that should get them to the Olympics.

As for making the playoffs. Well they need Russia to lose twice . Russia play China and Sweden so that is possible. Also need Scotland to lose once. Scotland play Germany and Czech republic. Neither one of those is very likely but with as inconsistent as Scotland has been this week you never know

I'm assuming they're referring to the controversy when a stone bounced off the side board and affected another stone in the US game vs Japan. John removed a stone from the house that a lot of people think would have stayed in the house. A very tough situation to be put in for both teams.

World Men's has the Big Two (Gushue and Edin) followed by a big group of legit hopefuls (Shuster, Scotland, the Swiss, Japan, China and Norway...none of which would surprise me if they medaled) followed by some teams that I would designate as longshots (Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Russia...I like Italy as my favorite longshot to make the playoffs).

So a pretty tough field for Shuster and his FaceTeam to battle through, but I like their chances. Nice win over Russia to start.

Last night's game vs. the Swiss wasn't a pretty game by either team. Our lead looked really good, but their skip looked pretty good. Hammy had a bad rock at second and we did a bad job of playing it. I'm sick of that. We seem to always be the team who isn't on top of the granite. Men's, Women's, Juniors'; it doesn't matter. We suck at playing the granite. How many times do we have to do this before we step up our rock mapping?

The USA men's game against the Swiss reminded me of the USA women's game against the Scots. Neither team playing well, good chance for a big victory against a strong opponent, USA has their chances but just can't seem to take advantage of opportunities.

With Hamilton, it seemed like every stone of his over-curled, and I'm wondering if the issue was more than just the granite. Regardless, they were slow (or slower than Kevin Martin) to pick up on it. Too bad.

Look at the USAs deliveries. They slide closer to the center and throw the rocks out. All while putting the turn from the back of the handles.
I just don't think their rocks play the same as the other teams who slide more direct at the broom and give more of a traditional handle from closer to the front.
Happened again today vs Scotland. However; in this game, Shuster's weight was a major issue.

Watched lots of the Brier on ESPN3 and watched first 2 USA games televised this weekend. Even knowing the guys on team USA, the curling from the Brier was much more fun to watch -- better shooting, better strategy.

I didn't watch the Brier and Scotties as closely, but it seems like the quality of play improved at both events through the week as everyone figured out the ice. Hoping that's some of what we're seeing through the first couple of days here.

quote:Originally posted by dbsdbs Watched lots of the Brier on ESPN3 and watched first 2 USA games televised this weekend. Even knowing the guys on team USA, the curling from the Brier was much more fun to watch -- better shooting, better strategy.

I'm biased of course but I think that Canada is simply deeper in curling talent than most other countries, the game is simply so much more popular here, so the Brier and Scotties feature more top-level teams than the Worlds. My little city of Halifax contains 5 curling clubs, for example. Obviously there are fantastic teams from many countries (Edin, Murdoch, Muirhead, Sidorova, etc etc etc) but a Brier/Scotties team going 3-8 might translate into 6-5 in the Worlds.

So USA men have 2 losses to 2 very good teams, no real reason to panic but at the same time you are only allowed 4 losses, 5 probably doesn't get you in. Having said that the game against Scotland they just weren't sharp, one bad instance was shooting the exact same shot in the 4th (Scotland got 2)and missing the 2nd time. I think it was a communication issue and maybe a rock issue, which was stated before should not happen. I want to see them be just a bit more crisp and confident. You just don't see the Canadians make these mistakes. Hope we get on a run but there are some bumps ahead starting tonight, good luck boys.

After 5 draws, Shuster is tied with 2 other skips with 2nd highest scoring percentage, George has 3rd highest percentage among thirds, Hamilton ranks 8th and Landsteiner ranks 5th. After watching USA's 3 losses, I did not expect team USA to be ranked this highly. Proabably a commentary on the field this year -- looks to be one of the weakest Worlds in several years.

quote:Originally posted by dbsdbs After 5 draws, Shuster is tied with 2 other skips with 2nd highest scoring percentage, George has 3rd highest percentage among thirds, Hamilton ranks 8th and Landsteiner ranks 5th. After watching USA's 3 losses, I did not expect team USA to be ranked this highly. Proabably a commentary on the field this year -- looks to be one of the weakest Worlds in several years.

The problem with Shuster and George is not that they aren't great rock throwers, they are. It just seems they tend to throw their misses at the least opportune time. They give up five against Scotland, a steal of three against Canada, etc., etc.

They can lose to Eden, but need to run the rest of the table.

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